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The real name of the show is the Fizz Ehrler Memorial Car Show, but people seem to only call it that in print.  From what I have read, Fizz Ehrler was a mechanic from Sycamore who was always willing to lend a helping hand.

The show was on July 31, or two weeks ago.  It took me all this time to upload my photos.  I took 581 photos, but only uploaded the best to Flickr.  Only 371 made the cut.

The show was huge.  It took up pretty much all of Downtown Sycamore.  Here is a rough map, based on my memory of where the cars and motorcycles were parked.  The show’s announcer said there were at least 700 cars that registered.

Parking wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be.  I thought I would have to park a mile away at a friend’s house, but after driving around for a few minutes, I found a good parking spot only two blocks away from the show.

I always say this – some of the coolest cars you will see won’t be part of the actual show.  While walking to the show, I spotted an immaculate 1976 Ford Pinto.  I like seeing old normal cars.  The muscle cars are a dime a dozen at car shows.  You rarely see Pintos or other economy cars.

I brought a map with me so I could mark off which parts of the show I had visited, to make sure I hit every part of the show and didn’t miss anything.  That’s a trick I learned from my visits to the Chicago Auto Show, after missing some exhibits two years in a row.  The show is overwhelming in a way.  There are cars lining every street, and there are so many.  You have to be choosy about which cars you check out, otherwise you’ll never see everything.

The cars line both sides of each street, and cars also went down the middle of IL Route 64, the main drag.  Cars were also in parking lots adjacent to the streets.  I should note that I put on sunscreen and had my CamelBak full of ice and water.

Basically, I ignored any cars I had seen at other shows.  I also ignored stuff that was heavily modified.  I’m not into cars with huge air intakes, hot rods, or motorcycles.  So that enabled me to skip quite a bit of the show.  But there were still hundreds of cars for me to look at and photograph.  There were a lot of Mustangs and Corvettes in great condition.  If I had known how many there would be, I wouldn’t have lingered around them for so long at the beginning of the show.

Shortly after the registration period ended, the show’s organizers decided to do a tribute to America’s Armed Forces.  When each branch was mentioned, cars were supposed to rev their engines.  A cheesy but interesting idea.  However, it didn’t pan out.  I overheard some owners say “Yeah, I’ll rev my engine, but only if you pay me for the damage it will do.”  So after hearing “Army!” I only heard a handful of engines revving off in the distance.  Speaking of revving, here is video of one car that shook the ground when its engine was revved.

More about sounds.  There were a couple of airplanes that kept flying over the car show.  Someone in one of the planes actually blew an air horn while passing overhead.

I enjoyed seeing the numerous B-body Chryslers like the Super Bee and Road Runner.  I was happy to see a 1972 AMC Gremlin.  Another one of those “normal” cars I rarely get to see.  There were some Shelby Cobras.

I made more of an effort to maximize my photography efforts.  I’d use a low-resolution setting to photograph the registration sheet so I wouldn’t waste valuable SD card space just documenting what kind of car something was.  I would then go to the other extreme and use maximum resolution to photograph the interiors, so you can see all the details of the gauges and buttons.  I would stick with my usual practice of medium resolution for exterior shots.

A 1969 AMC Hurst SC/Rambler was a treat.  I like most of the Ramblers I get to see.  Unfortunately, the information sign in front of it had a couple of typos.  That made me start thinking I could actually make money creating signs for people to display at car shows.  Thanks to my training in cartography, I actually do have a bit of graphic design experience.  I took a close-up shot of an info sign in front of another car, making sure to catch the name of the company that made the sign.  I later went to their website and discovered that they charge $260 for a sign with three pictures on it and about 6 lines of text.  It came with a plastic surround to protect the edges, and shipping was an extra $15.  So $275 for a sign that I could make in less than an hour.  I’d have to get it printed up at a local print shop and figure out shipping, but I’d only charge like $50 for my labor.  I might be able to undercut that $275.  I may make up one of those signs for my own car to see if this could be a money-making idea for me.

The star of the show, for me, was the 2006 Ford GT.  I had never seen one of these in person before.  High performance, expensive, and gorgeous.  Check out my photos of it on Flickr to find out more about this particular car.

I spotted a motorized bicycle chained to a parking meter.  Another one of those things that isn’t part of the show, but caught my eye.  It was parked outside a bike shop.  Must be nice to have a motor to help out when riding uphill.

At the Country Car Show, I saw a gorgeous Plymouth Fury convertible that had a portable record player installed.  Well, I got to see a 1956 Plymouth Belvedere that also had a portable record player.  Very cool, but I still wonder how well these worked.

Here’s a picture of a ridiculous monster truck.  I don’t even know how you get into this.  You need a set of steps or something.

Speaking of ridiculous trucks, there was also a semi that had a huge can of Old Style on its trailer.  By the time I got to this part of the show (the 3-hour mark for me), the music had changed.  Oldies were being played all along, with a DJ who interrupted more than I liked.  The guy who does the Country Car Show does a better job.  Anyway, the oldies stopped.  Someone was announcing dance demonstrations and there was modern music.  Some of it was OK, but some was hip hop.  I was probably a few blocks away from where the demonstration was taking place, so I don’t really know what was going on.  I’d hear the name of the dancer, a little description of it, then some music, then “Hey, good job!”  Not really sure what the relationship was between the dancing and the car show.

Some cars started leaving the show at this point.  Folks had been there all day long, and it was getting to be late afternoon.  I was sweaty, but not terribly hot.  The fun was wearing off a bit, because I had been walking around in the humidity and heat for several hours.  My feet and legs were sore.  I started skipping more cars.  It took more to wow me and get me to stop and take a look.

I’m glad I stopped to check out this 1965 Rambler Classic 770 convertible.  It has nice styling and is fairly compact.  The owner used to have a dealership in town, and pointed out some things about his car.  I thanked him for sharing his car with me (I try to thank the participants after taking up their time).  The owner then thanked me for being interested.  That was nice.

I know, this review is coming out kind of negative.  I think I am just frustrated by the size of the show, and the hot weather that went with it.  There was just soooooo much to see, and then cars started leaving before I had made it all the way around the show.  The huge number of cars makes it really difficult to see everything, while still being able to spend a few minutes learning about a particular car.  Sure, the registration could be capped at a smaller number, but that would mean less money for organizations and businesses that benefit from the car show.

OK, one more negative thing.  A news article quoted an organizer as saying the downtown environment is better than a grassy park.  Well, you all know that I discussed the virtues of the grassy show ground at the Country Car Show.  Concrete and asphalt are OK, but they make things tougher on a hot day.  The light-colored surfaces reflect heat back at you, while the dark asphalt absorbs the heat.  I was checking out one car and felt something squish under my foot.  I lifted my foot, finding it was sticking to the ground.  I looked down and saw I was standing on some gooey asphalt sealer that had softened in the heat.  The downtown environment offers lots of dining and shopping choices, but it also amplifies the effects of heat.

This car show has all kinds of cars, from the early 20th century to the present.  Well, here’s something from the present.  A 1987 Toyota Pickup Xtracab that has been lowered down onto the ground.  The gas tank was in the truck bed since it probably wouldn’t fit under the truck anymore.

I won’t photograph Chevrolet Chevelles anymore.  It’s not that I don’t like them, it’s just that I see so many at car shows.  With the exception of the Geneva Concours, I see at least three Chevelles at every car show.  There’s nothing particularly special about most of them, except their performance.  I got to see a nice four-door Chevelle at this car show.  More four-door Chevelles, please.  I’ve seen enough two-door Chevelles that I’d be fine with not seeing another for the next 5 years.  No offense.

I didn’t pay much attention to the motorcycles.  I’m not really into them and don’t know anything about them.  Didn’t even bother walking down that street.

Here’s a 1965 Volkswagen Beetle made to look like Herbie from the movies.  I’d like to see more Beetles at car shows.  Since I am young, they are novel to me.  Not many were around when I was a kid.  I lived in California, so I probably got to see way more Beetles than I would have if I spent my whole childhood in Illinois.  Bet they rusted out from all the road salt here.  The older people who are usually the ones who participate in car shows probably don’t see Beetles as something special, because they were all over the place when those folks were my age.  Maybe as time goes by, we will get to see more Beetles in car shows because they will have been out of production longer.

Folks were steadily leaving the show.  I actually walked up as the owner of this Fiat X1/9 was packing up his chairs and getting ready to leave.  He was nice enough to give a quick tour of the car, showing the engine in the rear and the cargo hold in the front.  I appreciated that.

I have to admit something.  I got dehydrated.  I spent five hours at the show.  I had three more blocks of cars to check out when I ran out of water in my CamelBak.  I ignored most of the cars.  My “wow” threshold had become very high because of my fatigue and dehydration, so I only checked out a couple of cars.  Yeah, I could’ve stopped at one of the many vendors to buy a beverage, but I would’ve spent $1 on something that I would’ve guzzled in a matter of seconds.  It was probably time to get in my air conditioned car and go home, anyway.

After finally walking the entire show, I headed over to the main activity/registration area to check out the awards ceremony.  I wanted to find out which cars won awards.  They had a whole bunch of trophies to give out.  Then I heard them announcing awards for the top 100 cars.  One hundred?  Each award was sponsored by a company or person.  Wow.  I wasn’t about to stick around for all those announcements, not when it was hot and I was dehydrated.

One big disappointment for me was not seeing a Messerschmitt.  Here is one I saw at the Geneva Concours.  I really wanted to see the Messerschmitt at the Sycamore show because there are no ropes or chains.  You can get up close.  Pics I saw of the Messerschmitt at Sycamore from previous years showed it with the cockpit open and the engine compartment open.  I really wanted to see that.  I heard the DJ mention the Messerschmitt, and I saw its trailer when I was walking back to my car.  I hope it wasn’t parked on the motorcycle street I skipped.

A co-worker’s husband saw me walking back to my car and honked.  I found out he only spent like 2 hours at the show.  Smart guy.  I was so happy to get to my car.  I could sit down and cool off.  I noticed something weird.  My arms had a bit of an oily sheen from my spray-on sunscreen, which had caused my sweat to bead on my arm hairs. When the sweat dried, it left little beads of salt crusted on my arm hairs.  It was kind of weird.

Positives:

• Lots of cars to see
• A wide range of years
• A good mix of stock, modified, restored, and survivor cars
• No chains or barricades keeping you away from the cars
• Lots of spectators, but it never felt crowded

Negatives:

• Lots of cars to see
• Large area to cover
• Cars didn’t seem to be organized by class

I think I’ll go to the Sycamore car show next year.  But now I know.  I have to take fewer photos.  Spend less time looking at each car.  Walk faster.  Get there earlier.  I got there well before registration cut off, and all the cars already seemed to be in place.  The show has some good elements, but the sheer size in combination with the heat was a little much for me.

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